You’ll Be Back

Geeks come in all forms. Most people think of “geek” as someone who is into sci-fi. Sure, we like sci-fi. But we’re also theater geeks. Well, Kim is, and has slowly but surely turning Chris into one. Even non-theater geeks know Hamilton is a must on the “to see” list. When we found out it was opening in San Francisco, we immediately knew we needed to go. Disclaimer: we understand that this review will make or break the show. With that power comes great responsibility. Luckily we have nothing but good things to say. Lin Manuel Miranda is breathing a sigh of relief. *phew*

How we actually got tickets is a strange situation. We didn’t know there was an Amex presale until the day before the Amex presale (the “get information about tickets” form being filled out did nothing, by the way). As ever, websites are never really true to their word – knowing this, we logged in for tickets five minutes before the official launch. Five minutes before the presale officially started, the site was up and running.

The problem is we didn’t know when we’d be in the San Francisco area. We knew it would be March. We looked at dates and seats available. We ended up with March 16th and March 28th. We figured we’d give the date we wouldn’t use to friends.

Hamilton at the Opheum, San Francisco

That was until we received an email that indicated we were clearly trying to resell our tickets. Apparently our address – shared with hundreds of others who full time and use the same mail forwarder – triggered a flag that the same address was ordering tickets more than the allotted three pairs. They threatened to reneg on both sets. The only way we could keep both, after much discussion and negotiating, is if we showed up with IDs and credit card in hand. So that’s what we did. Two more weeks than we had planned in San Francisco. Alrighty then.

This musical. It will ruin all and any other musicals if you’ve never seen a musical in person. You will have high expectations for the rest of your days. You may have to sell your kidney to get tickets, but it would be worth it. After the first time seeing it, we were thrilled to be in a position to be able to see it again. We couldn’t wait to see it from a different vantage point and to expect what had previously been unexpected before. We would be back. Yay!

Do yourself a favor. Buy the soundtrack. It will help you understand some words (some go fast) found here.

If you have the soundtrack, you’ll know what’s going on but it will not prepare you to see it live. Run, don’t walk, and see it. We’ve already stalked oops researched where else it will be playing in future runs. There are so many parts to it that are so intricate and ingenious. Small things like the chorus wearing gloves during Jefferson’s introduction to larger things like having the same actors play different characters and how effective it is. You may know all the words by heart and yet you will still be surprised.

We were able to see it from center orchestra row V, and then center orchestra row D. See it up close if you can but more to the middle of the center orchestra. There’s a reason those are the most sought-after tickets.

We saw the entire show from the seats further from the stage, but saw so many details from up close. In the middle of the center orchestra, about 4-5 rows back, would’ve been just right.

View of the stage from our seats

So run. Go forth and buy tickets however you can. See it. Full disclosure: the people next to us left during intermission. This apparently isn’t the show for everyone. We couldn’t imagine who wouldn’t enjoy it but it *is* possible.

But trust us. You want to be in the Room Where It Happens (room where it happens, room where it happens). Non-Stop. You’ll like it so much that You’ll Be Back. You’ll want to tell others The Story of Tonight. You’ll definitely be Satisfied. Don’t Say No to This. Don’t Wait for It.